Valera Repeats as The Cardinal Nation Player of the Month

The first of The Cardinal Nation’s top two monthly awards to St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers goes to the top system-wide hitter in August. The selection is made by reviewing a series of rate and counting stats, with the winner usually revealing himself.

This time around, we have a two-time winner. In fact, Memphis’ Breyvic Valera is the rare individual to collect these honors in two consecutive months, adding August honors to his July award.

We start our analysis with the Tommy Phams of the minor league system – .300 hitters, .400 on-base performers, .500 sluggers and of course, those with at least a .900 OPS across the Cardinals system. Players needed at least 60 at-bats to qualify.

Rate stats

Name

BA

Team

Name

OBP

Team

Anthony Garcia

0.391

SPR

Taylor Bryant

0.481

GCL

Taylor Bryant

0.385

GCL

Chase Pinder

0.470

JC

Yariel Gonzalez

0.356

SC

Anthony Garcia

0.444

SPR

Breyvic Valera

0.346

MEM

Yariel Gonzalez

0.418

SC

Wilfredo Tovar

0.343

MEM

Kramer Robertson

0.417

PEO

Chase Pinder

0.338

JC

Rangel Ravelo

0.396

MEM

Jonatan Machado

0.338

GCL

Breyvic Valera

0.395

MEM

Andrew Knizner

0.324

SPR

Scott Hurst

0.393

SC

Carlos Soler

0.316

DSL

Scott Hurst

0.316

SC

Rangel Ravelo

0.313

MEM

J.D. Crowe

0.311

SC

Juan Yepez

0.309

PEO

Kramer Robertson

0.308

PEO

Imeldo Diaz

0.307

JC

Leobaldo Pina

0.307

PB

Name

SLG

Team

Name

OPS

Team

Adolis Garcia

0.600

SPR/MEM

Breyvic Valera

0.991

MEM

Breyvic Valera

0.596

MEM

Anthony Garcia

0.960

SPR

Stefan Trosclair

0.573

PEO

Chase Pinder

0.947

JC

Luis Bandes

0.567

JC

Rangel Ravelo

0.934

MEM

Brian O’Keefe

0.551

PEO/PB

Adolis Garcia

0.927

SPR/MEM

Rangel Ravelo

0.538

MEM

Taylor Bryant

0.927

GCL

Patrick Wisdom

0.538

MEM

Brian O’Keefe

0.901

PEO/PB

Carlos Soler

0.532

DSL

Carlos Soler

0.900

DSL

Anthony Garcia

0.516

SPR

Andrew Knizner

0.500

SPR

Anthony Garcia (USA TODAY Sports Images)

As the above tables indicate, there were at least 16 .300 hitters in the Cardinals system during August. That is as high as I can recall in recent memory. At the top are Anthony Garcia and Taylor Bryant, each pushing .400. Three others were clustered around .350 – Yariel Gonzalez of State College and a pair of Memphis teammates, Valera and Wilfredo Tovar.

Garcia and Bryant are among the OBP leaders, with Chase Pinder of Johnson City joining them. Only two others had a .400 OBP or better – Gonzalez and Kramer Robertson of Peoria. However, Valera and another Memphian, Rangel Ravelo, were very close.

Adolis Garcia (St. Louis Cardinals)

In the slugging category, the “other” Springfield Garcia, Adolis, led the way, closely followed by Valera. Stefan Trosclair, Luis Bandes and Brian O’Keefe all came in over .550.

Putting it together in OPS, Valera and Anthony Garcia are head and shoulders above the others. Six others logged an OPS of at least .900 in August.

Counting stats

Now, let’s look at the system-wide August leaders in home runs, RBI, runs scored and stolen bases.

HR

Team

RBI

Team

Adolis Garcia

7

SPR/MEM

Luis Bandes

26

JC

Luis Bandes

7

JC

Yariel Gonzalez

25

SC

Patrick Wisdom

7

MEM

Adolis Garcia

23

SPR/MEM

Tyler O’Neill

6

MEM

Julio Rodriguez

19

JC

Breyvic Valera

5

MEM

Breyvic Valera

18

MEM

Brady Whelan

5

JC

Elehuris Montero

17

GCL

Brian O’Keefe

5

PEO/PB

Patrick Wisdom

17

MEM

Stefan Trosclair

5

PEO

Stefan Trosclair

17

PEO

Runs

Team

SB/att

Team

Brady Whelan

23

JC

Wilfredo Tovar

8/12

MEM

Irving Lopez

21

JC

Jonatan Machado

6/7

GCL

Kramer Robertson

21

PEO

Harrison Bader

6/9

MEM

Breyvic Valera

19

MEM

Edwin Figuera

5/7

SC

Adolis Garcia

19

SPR/MEM

Magneuris Sierra

4/5

Spr

Leobaldo Pina

18

PB

Darren Seferina

4/5

SPR

Stefan Trosclair

18

PEO

Kramer Robertson

4/5

PEO

Edwin Figuera

17

SC

Carlos Soler

4/6

DSL

Luis Bandes (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)

We have some short-season names on top here, including Bandes and Yariel Gonzalez. Bandes of Johnson City is the sole leader in RBI, with an amazing 26 in 23 games, followed by State College’s Gonzalez with 25.

Bandes is joined by Patrick Wisdom of Memphis and Adolis Garcia with seven August long balls each. Next is newcomer Tyler O’Neill with six homers.

In runs scored, JC teammates Brady Whelan (23) and Irving Lopez (21) are first and tied for second, respectively. Also at 21 is Kramer Robertson of Peoria, with Valera and Adolis Garcia next.

A surprise leader in stolen bases with eight is Memphis’ Tovar, though his success rate was just 66%. Jonatan Machado from the GCL was more effective, swiping six of seven bags attempted.

Overall

If I could combine the two Garcias, Adolis for his power and Anthony for his rate stats, they/he would be the winner.

However, in terms of overall success across the board, Valera checks more boxes. In the eight lists of leaders above, the Memphis utilityman appears on seven, only falling short in stolen bases.

With the top OPS in the system as well as strong performance in both scoring runs and driving them in, Valera is officially named The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Month for August.

Last month’s winners

TCN’s July Player of the Month honors also went to Valera, who despite his good play is completing his second season since competing in the Arizona Fall League and first on the 40-man roster without a promotion to St. Louis.

Given his exceptionally strong second half, it seems surprising Valera’s hold on his 40-man spot could be tenuous.

To be specific, in the second half, Valera’s slash line is an impressive .370/.431/.580/1.011.

Harrison Bader (USA TODAY Sports Images)

The Cardinals organization instead named Valera’s Memphis teammate Harrison Bader as their July Player of the Month.

Over the prior 31 days, the outfield prospect had just one extra-base hit, slashing .222/.320/.259/.579 for the Redbirds. Bader did appear among the August steals leaders noted above, but was caught one-third of the time.

September began with Bader’s return to the majors, with a home run in his first game back.

What’s Next

Look for TCN’s Cardinals Pitcher of the Month as well the Cardinals organization’s announcement of their choices as the top pitching and hitting performers from August.